


Dreaming of a Cloudy Christmas

by moodymarshmallow



Series: Always Cloudy One-Shots and Side-Stories [4]
Category: Dragon Age
Genre: Fluff, Holidays, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-25
Updated: 2012-12-25
Packaged: 2017-11-22 08:23:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/607789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moodymarshmallow/pseuds/moodymarshmallow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Christmas morning in Theodore's apartment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dreaming of a Cloudy Christmas

Pounce was up at five, kneading his little paws against the back of Theodore’s neck. Even meticulously trimmed claws were too long for that to be pleasant, and Theodore woke groggily, reaching behind himself to disturb Pounce enough to shoo him away. Never able to immediately fall back asleep after waking, Theodore laid silently in the dark, listening to Andrew’s slow breathing and the hum of the central heating as it kicked in. For once Andrew wasn’t spooning with him. He was instead sprawled over the side of the bed closest to the wall, his face half smashed into the pillow, one foot dangling off the bed. Theodore got the feeling that even now Andrew was making up for however long he had spent cramped in that tiny futon. Theodore remembered that night; sleeping smashed between the wall and Andrew’s body. He wondered if he knew then that he was falling in love with him. As he watched Andrew shift in his sleep, he knew the answer.

After an unsuccessful attempt to drift back into a light morning sleep, Theodore slipped slowly out of the bed, careful not to make too much noise. The apartment was chilly in the morning, so he stepped into his slippers and lifted Andrew’s robe off of the hook on the back of the door. It was much too big for him; he liked that. He tied the sash around his waist as he walked down the hall. In the kitchen Pounce was sitting in front of his bowl, eyeing Theo when he walked in. Theodore cracked open a small can of wet food and dumped it into his bowl, watching as Pounce immediately began to devour it.

“I don’t know how you can enjoy that,” he said to the cat. “It smells awful.”

Instead of starting up the coffee maker which, while silent, was likely to wake Andrew by the smell alone, Theodore turned on the stove and filled a small pot with milk. When it was simmering, he added sugar and cocoa powder, then poured the majority of it into one of his enormous cups. He dug around in the cupboard until he found the miniature marshmallows, using them to top off the cup of hot chocolate.

In the living room, the lights on the Christmas tree cast festive splotches of color on the walls. Since the lights were LED and didn’t get hot, they’d left them on all night, wanting the house to be cheery if even if they weren’t there to see it. Theodore turned on the faux fireplace stove and sat in front of it on the couch with his hot chocolate, looking at that big, bright tree and trying to remember when was the last time he’d decorated for Christmas, much less wanted to. Andrew just brought that out of him; the smiles, the laughter, and the desire to be more than he had in the past.

“Merry Christmas, Coffee Bean.” Theodore turned to see Andrew leaning against the couch, his eyes groggy as he covered his mouth for a yawn. “Just couldn’t wait, huh?”

“Pounce woke me up,” Theodore said. He moved slightly to the side to make room for Andrew on the couch and wrapped his free arm around him when he slumped down, all sleepy sighs and affection.

“Bad kitty,” Andrew said without any force. He buried his face into Theodore’s shoulder, smiling. “Do you want to open presents?”

“I was thinking I’d wait until you were awake,” Theodore said.

“M’awake,” Andrew said, but made no effort to shift out of his slumped position. Theodore stroked the hair at the base of his neck, quietly sipping his cocoa as Andrew dozed.

Much later, after breakfast and coffee, once Andrew was somewhat conscious, Theodore sat curled up on the couch while Andrew handed him gifts. The silver package turned out to be a new tablet; the one Theodore used for designing and digital art was starting to die. Still useful, but more personal, was the set of salon shampoo and conditioner and box of two hundred bobby pins; they always went missing when Pounce stole them, and Theodore had recently found twenty of them under the couch.

A heavy, square package for Andrew turned out to be several new anatomy books. The sidecar package included a pair of reading glasses and a promise that Theodore would wear his if Andrew wore them too. The smaller, lighter, but no less square box was full of sappy romantic movies, all of which Andrew eagerly removed from their plastic after reading the blurb on the back.

Moira sent a sweater for Andrew, which he immediately tugged on over his pajamas after opening. For Theodore she sent a package of high quality watercolors and brushes, along with a recommendation to take up painting again, as she had. Katherine sent a handmade book. The pages were hole-punched cardstock strung with yarn, and inside she had written a little story about the adventures of Mr. Pandaface, complete with sketchy colored pencil illustrations.

After opening gifts, Andrew and Theodore sat on the floor near the tree, using ribbon taken from packages to play with Pounce. Andrew finally just pulled Theodore into his lap to kiss him, smiling foolishly and nuzzling his cheek.

“We still have to go to the Corvus Christmas party,” Theodore said. He leaned back into Andrew’s chest though, watching Pounce carry an ornament across the room.

“That’s not until later.” Andrew shifted, turned, rested his face in the crook of Theodore’s neck and shoulder, humming  an unrecognizable carol under his breath. “I want a few hours just like this. You and me.” There was a crash from the kitchen. “And Pounce,” he added.

“You’ve got me just as much as you want me.” Theodore put his hands over Andrew’s arms around his waist, closing his eyes as Andrew kissed his neck.

“I haven’t spent Christmas with someone in years,” Andrew whispered, his voice content as he nuzzled closer.

“You’ll get to spend New Year’s Eve with me too.”

“I hadn’t even thought of that. We should go to New York, kiss in Times Square.”

“Way too many people there for me, you know that,” Theodore said, squeezing Andrew’s hand.

“Well we can watch it on TV then, kiss at nine when the east coast does, then at midnight.”

“You can kiss me any time.” Andrew pecked Theodore’s cheek, as if to show that he knew. “But it’s special?”

“It’s special.”

“Mm.”

“You’re special.”

“You’re something,” Theodore said, laughing when Andrew tickled his sides.

“Something you like”

“Something I love.”

Andrew smiled, kissing Theodore on the shoulder lightly. After a few minutes they moved to the couch, dozing off with one of Andrew’s new movies in the background. Again, Pounce climbed between them, sleeping against the back of Theodore’s neck, this time purring instead of kneading while he napped with them, sharing their warmth. 

 


End file.
